Good Friday
is a holiday at my office, and so I used my three-day weekend for some extra
RAAM training.
Friday
I’ve been
doing some RAAM blocks (sets of 10-20 miles with a 30-minute rest between each
set), but Friday was the greatest number of RAAM blocks I’ve done at one time so
far. I did 102 total miles in five sets
of about 20 miles each. My initial goal
was to ride all five blocks at 70% of my functional threshold power (FTP), the
maximum power I can maintain for one hour.
This seemed like a reasonable target because during RAAM I want to ride
as fast as I can, i.e. at the highest power I can, but it has to be a level
that I can repeat time after time for about seven days. Determining this level is one of my main
training goals between now and RAAM.
Friday
morning was beautiful as I set out on my first block. I felt better on my bike than I had in a
while; therefore, I quickly increased my goal for the day to ride at 75% of
FTP. That worked pretty well for my
first three blocks:
By the
fourth block my power started waning:
On block 5 I
wasn't anywhere near 75% of my FTP:
It turns out
that I should have stuck with my original goal of 70% of FTP. This was valuable information – exactly what
training is for! Now I need to determine
whether 70% of FTP is reasonable for multiple days. My best chance to evaluate this will be in
May when my three teammates and I get together for a 48-hour mini RAAM
simulation. In the meantime, I’ll keep
riding as much as I can, including more RAAM blocks.
By the way,
even though my 30-minute rest periods weren’t that long, I was grateful for
even those short segments, which allowed me to do a little housework. (These days, between work and training, I
feel like I’m never home!) It also made
fueling easy because I could eat at home rather than on my bicycle. I made sure to get some good protein during
one of my breaks, fixing a fried egg sandwich with fresh eggs from my chickens
– don’t forget the mustard!
Also, to
make sure that I stayed on schedule, I set the alarm on my phone during each rest
period. The alarm sound I use is a dog
barking. On one of my breaks, I left my
phone on the kitchen table while I was folding towels in the adjacent laundry
room. My greyhound Mr. Spock was lying
on the kitchen floor. When the alarm
went off, he went nuts trying to figure out where that dog was! First, he ran to the window and started
barking. Then, he ran down to the
basement, out the dog door, and into the backyard. He never did find that dog.
Saturday
On Saturday
I was looking forward to another century, especially since I wasn’t worried
about holding any particular power this time.
I was simply trying to get in miles.
Not that I was lollygagging, though!
I still tried to keep up as strong and consistent a pace as I could.
I kicked off
my ride with a stop by The Vanilla Bean, my local coffee shop. It’s such a wonderful place – food,
beverages, atmosphere, etc. – but I don’t get to go very often because I’m so
rarely in town during the hours they are open.
Although I had already had a hearty and healthy breakfast of oatmeal,
fruit, milk, and tea that morning at home, some additional fuel was still
welcome. I had another cup of tea
(ginger this time) and a slice of German chocolate cake. As I was enjoying my treats, a friend stopped
to say hello and asked, “You're out riding so you can eat that, aren’t
you?” I laughed and said, “No, I’m
eating this so that I can ride!” Truth.
I also had a
delightful conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Schrock, a very nice couple in my
community. They have always been
extremely friendly and kind, and so I don’t know why I should have expected
anything different from them this time, but I guess I thought they might look
askance at me in my cycling kit. That’s
because they are Mennonites. My spandex didn’t
seem to faze them a bit, though. We
talked about my upcoming RAAM adventure, and they seemed genuinely interested
and excited. I told them a little about
my training, the logistics involved during the race, and how my team is racing
on behalf of Wellspring Living, an organization that assists victims of
domestic minor sex trafficking. As I was
leaving, I wished them a happy Easter.
Mrs. Schrock said, “The Lord is risen!”
I replied, “He is, indeed!”
Ecumenism at its finest. Maybe we
don’t all worship God in exactly the same way, but we all are God’s
children. Amen.
A few miles
down the road as I was headed to Macon, a car slowed down beside me. It was the Schrocks. Mrs. Schrock waved out the passenger side
window and called out, “You go!” That
totally made my day.
The
remainder of my route to Macon strung together some familiar roads, including
the beautiful main thoroughfare through the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge and some Monroe
County roads that I know from Peach Peloton.
Then, I had to wend my way through a few side streets to get to my
downtown Macon lunch destination, Cherry Street Cycles. They have just moved to an expanded location
on Second Street, adding a small restaurant.
A barbecue sandwich hit the spot and gave me a little mid-ride
protein. Leaving Cherry Street Cycles, I
rode a portion of the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail and headed back home through
Jones County.
When I got
home, I certainly was tired, but I felt pretty good for having done
back-to-back days of 100+ miles. The
real fatigue had not yet set in...
Sunday
On Saturday
night I didn't sleep as well as I expected.
I woke up a number of times during the night. Although I went right back to sleep each
time, I'm sure this was an indication that I'm pushing my body harder than it's
used to. That's exactly what I need to
do to get fitter and faster for RAAM, but as Robert wisely reminded me, I also
need to allow myself enough recovery.
The body actually grows stronger during recovery as it repairs itself
than during the intense training efforts themselves.
After a magnificent
Easter morning at church, I headed out for another ride. Happily, Robert went with me! My original plan was to ride about 50 miles,
but I was pretty beat. Robert talked me
into going a shorter distance, convincing me that that would do me more
good. I did shorten my route, but I kept
the main part of it, which included Rabbit Skip Road - the perfect road to ride
on for Easter! (I don't know of a Jesus
Road.)
As tired as
I felt during the first part of my Sunday ride, I can't believe how much better
I felt after about an hour. I still
thought it was smart to stick with the shorter route, but if you had told me at
the start that I would wind up riding 31 miles at 17.6 mph and an average power
of 141 W, I would have told you that you were crazy! Robert advised me to mentally file away this
experience; if I'm feeling awful in the middle of RAAM, I just need to remember
that I will start feeling better.
When I got
home, I made myself one of my favorite recovery drinks, which is essentially
glorified chocolate milk. I added a
scoop of protein powder; how had I forgotten that we have a huge canister of it
in the pantry? That's going to be my
M.O. on all long rides - a recovery drink with protein powder. I'm still trying to eat plenty of protein in
my regular diet; the powder will simply be a supplement. Protein is extra important in the type of
training I'm doing.
Because I
work full time, most of my riding has to occur on the weekends. By default it's getting more intense as I up
the mileage. Based on my training this
weekend, I've decided to take a slightly different approach to my remaining
weeks before RAAM. I'll keep going long
and hard on the weekends, but I'm purposely going to take it easier on my
shorter rides during the week. Recovery
is so critical, yet it can be so easy to overlook.
What great
lessons on intensity, nutrition, and recovery from this weekend's
training! RAAM JAAM!
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